1 Reuters Institute Fellowship Paper University of Oxford IN NEED OF A LEVESON? JOURNALISM IN INDIA IN TIMES OF 1 PAID NEWS AND ‘PRIVATE TREATIES’ By Anuradha Sharma2 Hilary & Trinity 2013 Sponsor: Thomson Reuters Foundation ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 I take part of my title from Arghya Sengupta’s article “Does India need its Leveson?” Free Speech Debate website, May 13, 2013, http://freespeechdebate.com/en/discuss/does-india-need-its-leveson/ 2 Anuradha Sharma was a journalist fellow at the Reuters Institute in 2013. She worked at the Economic Times from July 2008 to January 2011. She is now a freelance journalist writing on politics and culture in South Asia. 2 To the Reuters Institute, I am grateful for selecting me for the programme. To the Thomson Reuters Foundation, I shall always remain indebted for being my sponsor, and for making this experience possible for me. Supervision by John Lloyd was a sheer privilege. My heartfelt gratitude goes to John for being a wonderful guide, always ready with help and advice, and never once losing patience with my fickle thoughts. Thank you, James Painter for all the inputs, comments and questions that helped me to shape my research paper. Dr. David Levy and. Tim Suter‘s contributions to my research were invaluable. Prof. Robert Picard‘s inputs on global media businesses and observations on ―private treaties‖ were crucial. My heartfelt thanks also go to Alex, Rebecca, Kate, Tanya and Sara for taking care of every small detail that made my Oxford experience memorable and my research enriching. To the other fellows I shall remain indebted for the gainful exchanges and fun I had in Oxford. Former fellow Arijit Sen was a big help—providing inputs and suggestions and helping me with contacts. Thanks also to Supriya Sharma for her suggestions. To the staff at the Social Sciences, Bodleian and British Libraries, I am thankful for all the help they extended to me in the course of my work. To Nikhilesh Bhattacharya, thank you for reading my final draft. To Bimala Sharma, Tanushree Sharma, Priyanka Sharma and Indeevar Lama, who make my family, a big thank you for always being there. 3 ABBREVIATIONS APUWJ Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists BCCL Bennett Coleman and Company Limited (also referred to as Times Group) BJP Bharatiya Janata Party ECI Election Commission of India ET The Economic Times HT Hindustan Times INMA International News Media Association IPC Indian Press Commission MCMC Media Certification and Monitoring Committee PCI Press Council of India TOI The Times of India TRAI Telecom Regulatory Authority of India 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 6 2. PAID NEWS 16 3. PRIVATE TREATIES 29 4. CONCLUSION 44 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY 56 6. APPENDICES 58 5 1. INTRODUCTION In an upmarket coffee shop in New Delhi in the autumn of 2012, two senior journalists from the Zee News TV channel were in conversation with executives of the Jindal Steel and Power Company.3 Over coffee and snacks, they were trying to strike a bargain. While the journalists were fixed on the figure of Rs 100 crore (almost £11 million), the company executives were insisting it was a massive amount and wondering how the figure rose from an earlier quotation of Rs 20 crore. ―If you forge a relationship with us, I‘ll see what best I can do,‖ one of the journalists promised in the end. The meeting was part of a sting operation.4 Hidden cameras were filming the deal as it happened and later broke the story to the world. This sting operation was organised not by the news channel as one would expect, but by the steel company to expose the ―blackmailing and extortionist tactics‖ of Zee News. 5 On November 27, 2012, Zee‘s Group Editor Sudhir Chaudhary and Business Head Samir Ahluwalia were arrested by Delhi Police on charges of trying to extort a Rs 100 crore advertising deal in exchange for favourable news coverage.6 Marking a new low in Indian journalism, the incident happened at a time when the dust of the headline-hogging Radia tapes controversy had barely settled. In 2010, in what came to be known as the Radiagate scandal, leaked audio tapes appeared to show top Indian journalists such as Barkha Dutt of NDTV and Vir Sanghvi of Hindustan Times willing to use their influence to broker deals between the politicians and business leaders in the awarding of the 3 Jindal Steel & Power Company website, http://www.jindalsteelpower.com/ (last accessed July 22, 2013) 4 CNN IBN, Oct 25, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFmVrpfrQY0 (last accessed July 22, 2013) 5 CNN IBN, Oct 25, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siX14KtiB_Q (last accessed July 22, 2013) 6 Agencies, “Senior Zee journalists arrested in Naveen Jindal extortion case,” The Indian Express, Nov 28, 2012, http://m.indianexpress.com/news/senior-zee-journalists-arrested-in-naveen-jindal-extortion-case/1037053/ 6 2G (second-generation) mobile phone spectrum and the allocation of a ministerial portfolio in the government.7 Following the elections of 2009, several studies by journalists‘ groups and NGOs exposed how media organisations received monetary favours from politicians in exchange for favourable election coverage in what has come to be known as the ―paid news‖ phenomenon or syndrome. In 2010, a sub-committee of the Press Council of India (PCI), comprising Paranjoy Guha Thakruta and K. Sreenivas Reddy, prepared a report titled ―‗Paid news‘: How corruption in the Indian media undermines democracy.‖ The report was at first suppressed by the PCI with its powerful publishers‘ lobby for a much ―watered-down‖ version8 ―The sub- committee‘s report was thereafter leaked online,‖ Guha Thakurta said in an email.9 Fourteen months later, following a directive of the Central Information Commission, the PCI placed the report on its website. Thus the document which had earlier entered the public domain through a leak also became an official document. The report gave a detailed account of instances of paid news in both the regional and national, particularly vernacular, press during the General and Assembly elections in different states in 2009.10 Corroborating the findings of the PCI and other agencies, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, presented its report, ―Issues related to paid news,‖ before both the houses of the Indian Parliament in May 2013. 11 The tell tale report— the first such work by a 7 John Lloyd, “A week inside India’s media boom,” The Financial Times, October 19, 2012, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/0eb44760-1907-11e2-af88-00144feabdc0.html (last accessed July 9, 2013) 8 Lloyd, “A week inside India’s media boom” 9 Guha Thakurta, email sent to author on Sept 4, 2013) 10 Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and K. Sreenivas Reddy, “‘Paid news’: The buried report,” Outlook, Aug 6, 2010, http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?266542 (last accessed July 2, 2013). The PCI report, “‘Paid news’: How corruption in the Indian media undermines democracy,” revised draft, April 1, 2010, can be found on the same link 11 Standing Committee on Information Technology, “Issues related to paid news,” May, 2013, http://164.100.47.134/lsscommittee/Information%20Technology/15_Information_Technology_47.pdf (last accessed July 8, 2013). 7 Parliamentary body on media corruption—details how sections of the Indian media accepted large sums of money from politicians in exchange for favourable coverage during elections, thus undermining democracy. According to the report, there were 126 confirmed cases of paid news, with 61 candidates admitting to buying positive coverage in the 2012 Gujarat elections. Prodding the government to take lessons from the Leveson Inquiry in the UK, the committee proposed a slew of measures, kicking off a fresh regulation debate in the country.12 All this took place at a time when the media in India are still said to be ―booming‖. BEST OF TIMES, WORST OF TIMES India is the world‘s largest newspaper market and has bucked the global trend by growing consistently.13 As of December 31, 2012, there were around 93,985 registered publications, and 850 licensed television channels out of which 413 are in the ―news and current affairs‖ category. State broadcaster Doordarshan runs 37 channels. In addition, there are over 250 FM radio stations and countless internet websites.14 According to the 2013 media and entertainment industry report, ―The power of a billion: Realizing the Indian dream,‖ prepared by the KPMG, a professional services firm, and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, ―Print continues to grow in India unlike in most countries. It has become more competitive and vibrant over the last few years.‖15 While the overall media and entertainment industry is poised to grow at 11.8 per cent,16 the print sector is estimated to grow at 9-10 per cent compound annual growth rate 12 Standing Committee report 90To know more about the Leveson Inquiry, visit http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/ (last accessed on Aug 1, 2013) 13 Rajini Vaidyanathan, “Newspapers : Why India’s newspaper industry is booming,” BBC online, Aug 1, 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14362723 (last accessed Aug 10, 2013) 14 Standing Committee report, 1 15 FICCI-KPMG, “The Power of a billion: Realizing the Indian dream,” http://www.ficci.com/spdocument/20221/FICCI-KPMG-Report.pdf (last accessed July 2, 2013) 16 http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/03/08/bollywood-media-entertainment-report-idINDEE9270AY20130308 [last accessed July 2, 2013] 8 CAGR in the next year. 17 New media, still at a nascent stage, are also emerging as a driver of growth.18 However, many journalists including those interviewed as part of this research say that while the going has been good, never before have the Indian media attracted so much criticism.